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1/25 AMT '69 Cougar Eliminator


Casey

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Now if we could just get Round2 to reissue the '67 or '68 Cougar!! Anyone know if they were modified to the '69? I'm thinking they were. But, not sure. Maybe if I plunk down $150 for an original kit, they'll make an announcement the following week.

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Now if we could just get Round2 to reissue the '67 or '68 Cougar!! Anyone know if they were modified to the '69? I'm thinking they were. But, not sure. Maybe if I plunk down $150 for an original kit, they'll make an announcement the following week.

Dunno but I think the engine and chassis in the '69 were pretty much the same as '68. It's possible the '67-'68 body got modded into a funnycar or something.

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Now if we could just get Round2 to reissue the '67 or '68 Cougar!! Anyone know if they were modified to the '69? I'm thinking they were. But, not sure. Maybe if I plunk down $150 for an original kit, they'll make an announcement the following week.

Probably not. It was virtually impossible, and still is, to simply "modify" hardened steel mold slides to do such a considerable restyling as was done on Cougar for 1969. Now, IF the original '67-'68 Cougar body and chrome tree tooling still exists (and likely it has survived), Round2 should eventually uncover it.

Art

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Didn't Model King reissue what was left of the 68 Cougar tooling. It was a 68 Cougar funny car.

...and iirc, the only difference in the body shell aside from the molded closed hood was the larger rear wheel openings...

mike

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Didn't Model King reissue what was left of the 68 Cougar tooling. It was a 68 Cougar funny car.

The Model King Cougar was actually the old MPC Cougar funny car kit, and MPC made three different versions of it back in the Sixties. MPC didn't make a street Cougar until '69.

AMT made the '67 and '68 Cougar annual kits, and this '69 Eliminator kit is a much-modified descendant of AMT's '69 Cougar XR-7 annual.

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...and iirc, the only difference in the body shell aside from the molded closed hood was the larger rear wheel openings...

mike

I have an original unbuilt AMT '68 Cougar (the answer to everyone's next question is NO!) and the Model King Cougar funny. I'll try to compare the bodies in the next couple days and see if they seem to be of the same origin. (AMT and MPC shared some tooling back in the day--not much, but I believe there were a couple kits that started as AMT and ended up in the MPC stable.)

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I have an original unbuilt AMT '68 Cougar (the answer to everyone's next question is NO!) and the Model King Cougar funny. I'll try to compare the bodies in the next couple days and see if they seem to be of the same origin. (AMT and MPC shared some tooling back in the day--not much, but I believe there were a couple kits that started as AMT and ended up in the MPC stable.)

Okay, I did that last night, examining both bodies using an Optivisor, and I can tell you for a fact, with 100% certainty...nothing.

I think it is entirely possible that MPC Cougar funny body began life as the AMT stock mold. I have never seen AMT and MPC bodies that were closer in size and overall shape than these two. In just about all areas of detailing, however, there are differences (besides the obvious funnycar ones). These differences could be explained by reworking the mold into the FC.

If MPC didn't use the actual AMT molds, then it looks like they reverse-engineered an AMT kit to design their own body.

If the mood strikes me, I might try to look at the insides of the bodies to see if I can find any telltale identical tooling marks between the two.

I can imagine AMT selling MPC the Cougar body molds, keeping the chassis, interior, engine etc molds to be reworked for the '69. It would explain why we've never seen any reissue of the AMT '68 Cougar, even as a funnycar, custom, dirt tracker, etc.

The next obvious question is, could Round 2 (or somebody) rework the Cougar funny body back to stock? Anything's possible, I suppose, but I imagine that with today's tech and tooling it would actually be easier to tool up a new body shell than to turn the FC back into a good, accurate stocker.

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Took a look at the insides of both bodies last night. NO commonality in inside tooling marks. None.

Still, the similarities in many areas of these two bodies is amazing. I've never seen an AMT and MPC body this close to each other before.

Interestingly, the FC rear wheel openings are extended rearward, not just enlarged all around. I supposed this was so the wheelbase would fit their standard Logghe chassis, which was originally under a GTO and a Charger.

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